Infected
by Wind And Tides
Summary: Aang's infected. The Gaang experiences the scariest moments of their lives trying to save him, and to survive. Katara centric, mostly. Kataang/minor-Sukka. VERY dark story! Viewer discression is highly advised.
1. Chapter 1: The Bite

Hi guys! Sorry for not updating other stories, school's up and I haven't been in the mood for the last few weeks! But I will get on with them asap!

Summary: The Avatar got infected by something that's crucial to his and his friends' survival. Will the Gaang save him and themselves before it's too late? Kataang. Rated M for violence and gore.

This story takes place in the Western Air Temple- after the Boiling Rock. Let's just say that there were a few more episodes before they left at that place, okay? ;P

Ages are the same, but it doesn't really matter.

85 out of 100 of the story is Kataang-y. Hah :P

Since it's violent and gory, viewer discression is highly advised. So, be warned!

Please review! ^.^

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><p><strong>I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

It was midday, everyone was just finishing up lunch- rice and fruit. The Gaang was sitting in a circle, with a steaming pot in the middle. Zuko and Sokka had saved Suki, Hakoda and Chong (can't remember the original name, but y'know, he was the big buff guy from Boiling Rock?) and so everyone was taking a time-out and enjoying themselves. Everyone except for Aang, he said that he didn't need a break.

"Ugh, Katara?" Sokka started, "Can you cook something else besides... this, for once?" he whined. Katara frowned at her brother, obviously irritataded, "Well, if you hate my cooking so much, you can cook yourself!" she said. Sokka whined again, "B-But Katara, you know that I can't cook!". "Well then, I suggest you to just live with it." she replied.

It made Aang chuckle, "Sokka, seriously. It's not that bad, at all!" the Avatar told his friend. Katara smiled at him, liking the compliment. "It's because you're all a veggie-chumper and you're not all that-..." he couldn't finish, so Toph did it for him, "Whiny? Selfish? Annoying? Sarcastic?". Everyone but Sokka laughed, who gave the earthbender a death-glare.

"Ouch!" Aang suddenly yelped, and placed his hand on his hip. "What's wrong, Aang?" Katara got worried and looked at him. "I think that something just bit me on the hip." Aang told her, rubbing his side, because it itched a bit. Hakoda perked up, _Wait, what? This can't be..._ he thought. "O-Oh.." Katara said, a little more relaxed. "Neh, probably a wasp." Toph said, waving her hand.

Zuko got up and placed his half-embty bowl next to Katara's cooking-pot. It was a gesture meaning that he had finished. "Come on, Aang. The lesson started." he said dullingly and started walking towards the training-ground. Aang nodded and finished his meal, placing his completely embty bowl next to the pot. He then ran after Zuko.

"Wait, Zuko, why's there a half left?" Katara asked the firebender. Zuko coughed, "Bad-food." Katara jumped, "What?". "Nothing, I just coughed." he said casually, while Aang shrugged at the furious Katara. Toph started laughing, and was soon joined by Sokka. Katara gave them 'the eyes' and they both stopped immideatly. No-one wants to get _her _angry at a time like this, especially for her cooking.

Zuko and Aang went on, while the rest of the group finished their meals and chatted.

"Allright, take your 'dragon' stance. We'll start with-..." Zuko talked to Aang, who just got into his stance, before getting an enourmous head-ache. He moaned, holding onto his head. "You allright?" his sifu asked. "Yeah-Yeah... Continue." Aang assured him, _What was that? It just, stroke me or something. Ugh, I feel dizzy. No, focus! It was nothing._ The Avatar thought.

For the next half an hour, Zuko kept teaching Aang some firebending moves and techniques, while Aang himself tried to avoid the headache-shots he got from time-to-time.

Aang blasted a fire-whip, that didn't reach as far as it should've. His arms felt numb, and the headaches were now friquent. His vision went blur and he couldn't hear Zuko's voice properly now. His gut started to make strange sounds and he couldn't focus.

"Aang, what's going on with you? You're acting rather strangely today. What's with all the groaning and bad-firebending?" Zuko got really irritated and snapped at him. Aang couldn't even hear the half of what he was saying, as his ears started to hurt and hear a strange and loud noise. He squeezed his now half-blind eyes shut and started to yell. Aang walked around dizzily, trying to get the noise out of his head. _What is going on? What's happening to me? _he shouted in his head, because the only things that came out from his mouth were high-pitched yells.

Zuko went closer to him, "Aang? What the-" Aang got on his knees and puked out blood. He stopped, and screamed in horror, then puked again. A puddle of dark-blood appeared below him. He gripped onto his stomach and kept yelling and puking. Zuko got scared, "Aang? What is going on with you!" he shouted at him.

Zuko backed away, as Aang started to wave his arms around and hit the ground. He started crying- this was all way too much for him. It hurt, it smelled and it was scary. But he kept on going.

Katara heard Aang's horrifying yells and got up and started running immideatly, being scared for her life, that Zuko did something to him. Everyone in the hang-out shared shocked looks and started running after her. Hakoda was scared, too. For some reason, he did know what may be going on, _No, no, no! This can't be happening right now! Not the Avatar!_

Katara reached the training area, her eyes darted on Aang's quivering body, which hovered above a blood-puddle. He collapsed and yelled for the last time. Zuko was a few meters away, frozen. Katara's heart stopped and her cheeks were covered in tears.

"Aang!"

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><p>Mmnnyeeeh, good, bad? :P<p>

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this was based on a dream I had a few days ago. I 'developed' the story for some time, until I starting writing it down. Creepy? Absolutely. Don't judge me, I know I'm weird. xD

So, like it, love it, hate it? Whatever, please review, anyway! ^.^

~Wind And Tides


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning

New chapter! This time, creepier! :O

I'm feeling weird, so don't be surprised if you see weird sentences in this story. LOL

Please review!

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><p><strong>I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

"Aang!" Katara yelled, tears already streaming on her cheeks. She ran as fast as she could towards the Avatar's lying body. So did everyone else. Zuko only kept backing up, thinking of his next actions.

Katara crouched down next to the airbender, picking him up lightly, looking for any signs of life. The blood from his mouth poured down his clothes and onto the floor. It was terrifying.

She held his head, facing her. It was pale, eyes closed and mouth slightly open, with blood coming out of it. It was the sight Katara was most afraid of.

Katara held her head to his chest. There were no heart-beats, she could tell. She cried even more, leaving droplets of tears wet his clothes. Her hands started shaking and her mind was puzzled. Gripping tighter to the body of her hero, she loudly sobbed, "Aang...A-Aang...".

The Gang stood a few metres away, keeping silent as the grave. From shock, from fear, from sorrow. All of them had tear streaks, but none matched Katara's. Their silent sobs were like whispers compared to Katara's. No-one knew what to expect next.

Suddenly, Katara's voice stopped. Everyone slowly looked up to her, surprised. They caught her red eyes darted on the banished fire-prince. Her expression was filled with fury and the will to kill.

"What did you do?" The Waterbender screamed at the Firebender. He perked right up, waving his hands in a slow motion, "K-Katara, I didn't do anything!" he said. But his fear increased when the girl's expression got even more threatening.

She stood up, carefully leaving her love's body. She bended some water near her, and yelled at Zuko, "I warned you! I _warned_ you!". She started running at him, having bended the water into very sharp ice-pieces. Zuko backed away (because running wouldn't help), pleading, "Please! Katara! I swear I didn't do it! I didn't do anything to him!" he shouted, getting on his knees, as a sign of 'i don't want to fight you'.

But Katara didn't listen. As far as she's concerned, Zuko just killed the love of her life.

Suddenly, a large rock appeared, blocking Katara's ice-shards at the right time, before smashing Zuko to pieces. It was Toph, "Katara, he didn't do it! He's telling the truth." She said.

Sokka had managed to catch up and held onto Katara from trying again. She placed angry and confused glances at the two, and at the frightened firebender. She kept her eyes darted on his, trying to find anything to prove that he did do it. But there was nothing besides fear in his eyes. She looked away and started crying again, "B-But how?" was the only thing she got out before hugging Sokka tightly. He patted her back, trying to soothe her.

Hakoda went to his children, putting hsi hand on Sokka's shoulder. The boy looked at him with a confused look, continuing to pat his sister's back. His father was about to say something, but Toph cut it off,

"Hey, he's alive! Aang's still alive! But-" she couldn't finish, because the word 'alive' struck Katara like a bolt, and she was running for his body again. Hakoda stopped her half-way, holding onto her.

"Let go, dad! H-He's still alive! He needs help!" she shouted, struggling to get free. "No, Katara, listen!" Hakoda told her, pulling her further back from the Avatar's body.

Katara didn't understand, and didn't want to either. She just wanted to save Aang, for god's sake. But her struggles to get free were useless.

Sokka had helped Zuko up, while Toph had put her hands on the ground, listening to something. Her face was puzzled, and slightly scared. Sokka noticed it, "What's wrong, Toph? Is it with Aang?" he asked.

"I-I don't... know. There _is_ something strange with Aang, but I can't figure... I can't figure it out. It's like... he has some-thing else in him, literally..." Toph said between her investigation.

"How can you tell, from that far?" Zuko asked, having his fright slightly reduced.

"I can feel heartbeats, ... and there's... two of them in Aang's body?" Toph asked herself. She was more than confused at the moment, since she had no idea what she was talking about. Well,almost- she was picking up the facts that there was something twisted going on with Aang.

Katara started kicking, being furious with her father for stopping her like that. She didn't understand why her own father wouldn't let her save her friend, and her secret crush.

"That's impossible! H-He's hurt, badly! I don't care who did it, but I must help him! Let go!" she shouted, again. But Hakoda kept pulling her backwards, telling her otherwise, "No, Katara, I _know _what's going on with him! You can't get near him, it's way too dangerous!" he told her.

"What? The only thing dangerous about right now is his survival!" she got one of her arms free for a second, but was quickly taken back. Katara's wet eyes were only darted at Aang.

Sokka and Zuko perked up, surprised. Toph stood up and started backing away, being completely silent, for some reason.

"Dad, what is it? What's going on?" Sokka asked, walking to him and looking him straight in the eye. Hakoda stared at him, "I'll explain later, but now we have to get away from here, now!" he told them. The kids were still confused as ever.

"Guys, it's not Aang anymore..." Toph said silently. Everyone looked at her, besides Hakoda. Even Katara's eyes were questioning her.

"...It's not Aang's heart... it's something else, a-and it's really creepy." Toph finished, now that she got her full image of Aang, she was scared. It wasn't likely for the Blind Bandit to be scared of anything, but if this was creeping her out, it must've been pretty bad, the others thought.

No-one quite understood what she meant, and changed glances over eachother and her.

Suddenly, a screech came from afar. It was the Avatar. He sounded like some kind of a strange animal, but not like anyone had heard before. It was loud, and sent shivers through spines.

As all eyes were on him, and everyone kept quiet, the voice got even louder and more bizarre.

The body spazzed, and it looked as if something was growing out of its skin. The screeches became loud shouts, and the body started to spaz even more.

Aang's lower-pants were cutting off, as some weird kind of legs sprouted out- with some sort of scales. His feet turned into three-toed clutches. They ripped his flesh apart, and blood slowly gushed over his limbs.

His hands started to rip off too, as some greenish-grey scales of material came out, almost covering his arms fullily. His hands formed into three-fingered clutches, with sharp edges.

His mouth started to widen, and sharp, predator-like teeth started sprouting out from his normal ones. Also, two thin claws came out from his cheeks, sprouting a little longer, looking like ant-spider's front-clutches.

The back started to spread out sharp-tipped scales, tearing his skin and clothes apart.

He opened his eyes, which were no pitch-black and pupilless. He screamed out, showing off his vicious teeth. Some blood flowed down his mouth.

Aang's body stopped spazzing, and he seemed to be getting up slowly. While doing that, he puttered some weird noises.

The gang was frozen, their minds filled with fear. No-one dared to do anything. They just kept their sights on the Avatar's terrific figure.

Aang was now standing on his two digi-, alien legs. Infact, his whole body looked as if a half-infected alien, which he probably was.

He gazed around, groaning slightly. He suddenly got his black eyes on his friends. Their mouths gaped, and something inside them made them feel weak and more scared than they've ever been. He looked monsterous.

A few seconds went by, as Aang had a stare-down with the _humans_. His vision only showed their heart-beats, which were going very fast. He scanned them for a while, taking in their figures, poses, genders, etc. The stuff an alien needs to know.

It was dead-silent.

Suddenly, he roared widening his arms' range, and started sprinting at the group.

They all came back to earth, "Run!" Hakoda shouted, letting go of Katara, as they all started running away from the Avatar. No-one could explain what just happened, and what will, they all only knew that they had to get the heck out of there.

The roars and screeches were starting to get louder, so they all sped up, and started making circles around the temple.

Hakoda, who was at the head of them, saw large, fallen pillars, about 7 metres tall. They formed a block, except for one escape-whole.

"Everyone! Get through the whole, and then hide behind the pillars!" the Water Tribe Chief yelled. Everyone agreed, even though they didn't say anything.

So, they sped up and ran through the whole, falling on their backs and hiding behind the pillars, just like they were told. Breathing heavily, they waited for Aang to run through it aswell, but Hakoda had another plan. He perked his head out of the whole, seeing that the infected Avatar was getting very close.

"Toph!" he got the earthbender's attention. "Hit him as hard as you can when he gets out!" he shouted. Toph would've asked questions, but obeyed, since their lives counted more.

A second passed, and the _alien _sprinted out, then getting hit by Toph's earthebending, which sent him off flying. He hit the wall, a half a mile, and fell down. He wasn't injured, by a miracle, and stood up. His vision however was very blur, and his instincts told him to retreat. He went off on all fours, looking for a hiding place.

Everyone was shocked to death, breathing heavily and thinking deeply.

Minutes passed, until everyone was quiet, and only sharing fearful glances over eachother. They've spotted that Aang had left a small trail of blood, which made them want to throw up.

Katara started to cry again.

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><p>Please reviewwwww! ^.^<p>

~Wind And Tides


	3. Chapter 3: The Campfire

Hey guys! Sorry for not updating for a long time! Here's chapter nr. 3!

This chapter doesn't have much action. It's mostly explaning what-the-hell is going on, hah. But! Since I'm in a creepy-freaky-mood, I'll update it soon!

Sorry if there hasn't been much Kataang, there will be! I've dropped hints though... soooo...

Thank you for those who have reviewed, please continue! ^.^

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><p><strong>I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

-2 hours after the infection-

Hakoda placed some more wood into the campfire. The fire was warm and strong, growing, breathing, living. It was bright, and its waves could hypnotize you with it's warm and friendly look, into a deadly, burning trap, which you will soon hate to feel again.

The Water Tribe Chief decided that they should split to two groups- He, his children, Suki, Zuko and Toph stayed near the temple, trying to figure out pretty much everything that was going on, while the others went farther back, about a few miles. They were scared.

Now, the Gang (minus Aang) were sitting around the campfire, in complete silence.

"Dad," a young warrior whispered behind Hakoda, "are you going to tell us about..." he stopped, making sure that no-one else heard, "about Aang?" he finished, looking into his eyes.

But his whispers were useless, because everyone heard it and perked up, looking at the two with questioning looks. Hakoda sighed, and sat down, looking at the fire.

"A few years before I left the South Pole, me and my men had come across something..."

-Flashback-

_Hakoda was on a hunt with his troop. There were about five more men besides him, including Bato. _

_They were sneaking in a forest, spying a snow-deer, who was oblivious to their existence. It was just looking around time-to-time, lowering its head to look for anything edible from the snow. _

_Hakoda signalled for two men to go to the left, the other two to his right side, leaving him and Bato stay at one place, facing the deer directly._

_Suddenly, they heard something moving in the high branches, making some snow fall on the ground. The deer perked up, ready to run. But then it jumped._

_Some kind of a bug, about a half-metre long, with even longer tail, jumped from the trees and headed for the deer. It had small clutches from its mouth, spearing out, probably to grab anything on its way._

_It bit the deer on its hind, but then it got kicked onto a nearby tree by the deer's strong legs. Though the bloody scar remained. The 'creature' squirmed in pain and seemed to have broken a bone or something._

_The deer ran away, hollering and limping._

_Hakoda and the men had stayed quiet the whole time, from shock. But they kept their weapons darted at the critter._

_Hakoda and Bato stood up, slowly moving towards the squirming 'thing'. They ordered men to follow._

"_What is it?" Bato whispered. "I... I don't know. I've never seen anything like this..." Hakoda questioned himself aswell, after saying that. The fear of the unknown, and the fact that it looked scary, rose. They felt more like they had to run away as fast as possible._

_One of the curious men went even closer to it. He was the animal-expert. He crouched down and poked the creature softly with his weapon. It only growled._

"_Analize, Durah." Hakoda ordered. The man stayed quiet for some time, but then sighed, _

"_It seems to be some sort of a bug, or a reptile. It uses its light body and long, swift tail to grab onto things. And with its clutches, it holds onto them," he paused, looking the critter a little closer, "a-and, the mouth... it seems strange... it looks like an expandable whole, which has some kind of a needle in it, probably a tongue... So, it may use its mouth to spread poison into its prey... Though, judging by its looks, I say its something like a polar-wasp-spider, this one's just a larva, who's job is to spread... something, to another body, to make and infestation of some sort..."_

_The men looked at him with scared and questioning looks, and Durah sighed again, "Chief, from all the creature's I've met in my life, I've never seen anything like this. But I can tell that this is not natural, and it-" he couldn't finish. The creature had bitten him in the knee, making some blood pour out of it. But it had let go, though. Durah screamed in pain, backing away from it._

_The men immideatly started to help him, while keeping their sharp-edged weapons at the spazzing critter. _

"_Durah! Are you okay?" One of the men asked. "What do you think? Ofcourse I'm not! It bit me, and I-I can feel s-s-s..." he fainted. All of them picked him up, and started carrying him back to the camp._

_Hakoda looked behind, and the squirming alien had disappeared. _

_Later that day, Durah had spazzed, puked and gotten greener. He started acting like an animal, even when the men tried to talk to him and to keep him stay in one place. But Durah started looking scarier minute by minute. He was infected._

_Suddenly, he started tacking the men to the ground, growling, snarling, roaring. The men had killed him,in the end._

_-_End of Flashback-

Hakoda sighed and placed his palm on his head. Everyone kept quiet by the terrifying story.

"We never found that thing again... and I'm afraid that it got the taste of human now, and wants to... to... y'know..." he doubted about finishing it, by his daughter's scared face, but he had to, "...to kill Aang, in the most cruellest and slowest way, possible." Katara started to cry again, while being hugged by Sokka.

"So, what's going to happen to him?" Suki asked, sitting next to Hakoda. Her face was filled with worry and fright.

"Now, as the infection is starting, well... I learned, that the 'larva' just released an egg into Aang, and it's located in next to his heart. It's taking control of him, and his body- that's why he's... like that, and why he's willing to kill all of us right now. It isn't him. It's the alien."

Everyone kept silent again, besides Katara's soft sobs. She really hoped that this was just some kind of a nightmare. She wished she could wake up, and everything would be okay. She wished that if she did wake up, she'd go right to Aang, kiss him, and to tell him that she loves him, before it's too late.

But it already has been too late.

"But, does that mean that we have to end Aang before he could do anything? I mean, he _did_ look like he wanted to tear us apart." Toph asked. Hakoda went into deep thoughts.

"Killing the Avatar, and a good friend of yours?... I-..." The Water Tribe Chief scratched the back of his neck. Katara started to cry again, "N-No... We can't kill him! I won't let you!" she said, hurt because she thought that Hakoda thought of Aang like that. She loved him, how in the wide world would she allow anyone to kill him?

"No, no, Katara, it's okay." Sokka whispered to her, hugging her closer. But she didn't want to let her father decide everything. She didn't want to see Aang die, or even think of it.

"If we kill the Avatar, how are we going to stop the Fire Lord?" Zuko asked. Katara got even angrier, "Y-You too? What's w-wrong with all of y-you? He's not just the Avatar, he's our friend! Y-You can't j-just...!" she screamed, but soon stopped, realizing that she was over-reacting. Or was she?

"Darling, you don't understand. Durah had died when he had been completely infected. He was just like some sort of an animal-" Hakoda tried to explain to her, but she glared at her, "But Aang isn't completely infected! He still looks like a human!" she argued back. Hakoda didn't say anything. She was right.

Some silent minutes of thinking went by, until Zuko perked up and asked, "Wait, Toph, you said that Aang had two hearts. What did you mean by that?". "Well... I felt two hearts beating next to eachother, though they hadn't collided. It was like something was living 'next-door' to Aang's heart." She answered. That made Hakoda gasp, "But then it must mean that the egg didn't get in the Avatar's heart, completely! It's just connected to it somehow! I guess that's why he's still half-human...".

Suki made a conclusion, "So, what we have to do, is to destroy the 'alien' near his organ, and he'll be allright, again?" Hakoda nodded, "That's what me and many animal experts talked about. It is possible, that he'll survive, but there's a slight chance that the progress might...um... explode his heart." Katara looked at her father angrily- she took that as a joke.

"We're just gonna have to get Aang, cut his chest open, and then we should see the critter..." Hakoda kept analizing. Katara gasped, "N-no! That will hurt him, b-badly!" she disagreed. "It's the only way, Katara. Plus, your healing abilities should prevent any major situations." Sokka said, sounding very smart. Katara looked at the ground, could she really heal such an injury? She'll have to, for Aang's sake.

"But, we'll have to get some materials. If we try to cut the creature, its shell will prevent it. The materials that I have in mind should be able to help the point of the sword or knife slice through it, and poison it quickly." Hakoda said.

" 'Materials'?" Toph asked, gesturing with her hands. She was ready to go on for an adventure. A deadly one, that is. "Ice-Chill-Peppers, Purple Poison Ivy and the slime of the creature. The Ice-Chill-Peppers were used as food some years ago, and I think that some might be found in this Air Temple's Kitchens. The Purple Poison Ivy can be found in any forests, so the one nearby might have some. And the slime, well, Aang's going to be drooling it, so we'll have to _somehow_ catch him before any of us could get hurt, and let him go. Then I'll mix them together, add them to the knife, and just... y'know how it then would go." Hakoda explained everyone.

They decided to make plans tomorrow. It had been an awful day, so they all went to sleep.

The campfire soon died.

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><p>Excited? Yes, no? :<p>

Again, this chapter hadn't got much in it, only bluh-bluh-bluh-Hakoda-is-boring... I know, sorry. .

But, please review! ^.^


	4. Chapter 4: The Plan

Hey-hey!

I'm getting back to updating this story. _Never_ giving up!

This chapter' going to be a little short, but bear with me.

Jigsaw72: Related to Dead Space? Well, I'm not quite sure. I've heard alot from it, and I'm thinking of getting my hands on both of the games (1st and 2nd), If I'll have the guts, soon. But if you think its reminding you of it, fine by me. Its not _offical_ though. Thanks for the revew! ^.^

AvatarIsMyLife: Originally, Kataang was supposed to kick in right in the first chapter. But it seems that I failed at doing it... It's very hard to put romance into a rather disturbing story... But I hope you'll be satisfed. Thanks for the review! ^.^

BelieveInLov3: Haha, got ya scared, eh? I jut had to figure out a way to make the story a little more interesting. If it was certain that Aang would die, then it would've been quite short. Thanks for he review! ^.^

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><p><strong>-I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

"_Aang?" Katara whispered. She saw Aang further away, standing, with his back to her. They were both in some kind of a dark room, only a few feet away from eachother. Katara started to walk closer, slowly._

"_Aang, is that you?" she asked, again, shifting her head to the side, trying to see his face. _

_She stopped._

_There was silence. Not even their breaths were heard. They just stood there, only a foot or two separating them from body contact._

_Katara had a feeling that she should say something. Something very important. She doesn't know why now, but the feeling just came, like a blow. She felt the every need to confess to him. And not with just, explaining, but to say those words she'd been wanting to say for a long time._

_This was it._

_She took a deep breath._

"_Aang, I love you." She said. _

_Feeling shivers run down her spine, and her cheeks flustering. She had been wanting to feel that kind of feeling, and because of him. Because of Aang._

_Suddenly, the Avatar turned his head, 90 degrees. He had pupilless eyes, grey face and blood pouring out from his mouth and eyes. His 'clutches' were sprouting out, like an insect's, and his teeth were showing- sharp and thin. _

_Katara gasped, taking a few steps back. She started to shake and she felt faint. This was too much. Too much for her. Too much for her to even imagine. And it was scaring the life out of her._

_Aang hissed, and turned around, his head pointed to her. His alien-like body parts had appeared, and they'd seem to infect him even more. There were no real words to describe him, anymore._

_Katara's heart started to race. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. His face. God, it was terrifying. She felt weak, and helpless, like a prey. A prey to a predator._

"_You're too late." A voice said._

_Aang went on all fours and started running towards her, grunting and hollering, blood spilling everywhere. _

_Katara was frozen still, she couldn't move, no matter how hard she wanted to._

_He got closer._

_Closer._

_Jump._

Katara screamed, as she jumped out of her sleeping bag. Her eyes were as open as ever. She was sweating, yet she felt cold. Her eyes started to water.

Within seconds, Hakoda ran next to her. He held her like a baby, and cooed her. "Shh, shh, Katara, it's okay, you're safe." He said, holding her tightly, embracing her.

She cried, holding onto her father.

Everyone else had gotten up aswell. It was early morning, and actually quite the right time to wake up. But the alarm wasn't quite what everyone expected.

Hakoda continued to calm her, yet her crying didn't stop.

"A-Aang... A-Aa..ng..." she said between her sobs. The Chief put a hand on his daughter's head, already getting the idea of what she saw in her nightmare.

A few minutes passed, until Katara had stopped crying, yet stayed in her father's arms like an infant.

"Dad," she whispered to him. "I'm scared."

"I know you are. We all are. But it's going to be okay. We'll figure this out." The Chief said to her, rubbing her back softly.

Sokka and Zuko had started the fire and Suki made breakfast, with a bit of Toph's help. Usually, Katara would've done all of it, but right now she needed to be with her father more than anything.

"I don't want Aang to die, dad," she whispered again. "please don't kill him."

Hakoda stayed quiet for a while, thinking of an answer. That made the waterbender nervous.

"Please, don't hurt him." She whispered once more.

"I promise I won't kill your friend, Katara," he said to his daughter, "but he's hurt himself already, and I don't think there's another way but to risk."

Half an hour went by, until Katara and Hakoda joined breakfast. The young waterbender was still quivering a bit.

"Chief Hakoda, sir," Zuko started, being polite, "what is our plan?"

Hakoda chuckled a bit, telling him that there's no need for calling him that fancily.

"Well, last night I thought of it," he started. "and I made a lot of conclusions."

Everyone stopped eating and turned their heads towards the water tribe chief.

"Sokka, Zuko," the teenagers flinched. "You should get the purple poison ivy from the forest that's nearby. Since you both know how to handle swords, it shouldn't be much of a problem for you." The boys nodded and bumped fists.

"Suki, Toph," the girls glanced at Hakoda, "You two should get the ice chill peppers from the kitchens in the temple. One of you knows what they look like, since they also grow in Kyoshi Island, and the other can sense the surroundings." He pointed out their skills. The girls nodded and smiled.

"Katara," Hakoda turned to his daughter, "You and I'll get the slime of the creature. Like I said, it's from Aang himself. I think there's a chance that he'll recodnise you, since you're the closest to him, and maybe not attack." Katara smiled sadly and nodded.

"Allright everyone, as soon as we finish eating, we should get to it!" Sokka cheered.

Though what was there to cheer about? Meanwhile, Aang was shaking and screaming, feeling his organs as if burn and his bones break.

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><p>Very short, I'm sorry! But I promise there will be another chapter up soon! Please review! ^.^<p>

By the way, has anyone seen/read Hunger Games? It's awesome, right? (off topic)

~Wind And Tides


	5. Chapter 5: Purple Poison Ivy

Hey!

Now this chapter took me a couple hours, since I wanted to finish it before I lost my intrest, and I always do. So yeah, here's the long-awaited _actual_ story.

I'm serious, it gets very messed up in this chapter, and it's only the start. Be warned, my dear readers!

Thank you again for the reviews! (And heh, glad to hear about HG!)

Viewer discression is highly advised.

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><p><strong>I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

"Be careful." The Water Tribe Chief said to his son and the firebender.

The two nodded and took their bags, their swords clung onto them. They were as loyal as men could be. To save their friend, they'd do anything. But they also did this for Katara- she seemed to be the one suffering as much as Aang. They knew there was something those two had.

The two teenagers were off, waving to the rest of the group, while they could only pray that they came back unharmed.

"Come on Sokka, only a few more metres and we'll be at the top." Zuko said, as they climbed up the mountain.

Sokka groaned, "Ugh, I still don't understand why we couldn't get Appa."

"You saw him yourself- he's terrified. And so is Momo. Their animal-instincts are taking the best of them." Zuko pointed out.

That was true though, the two companions of the Avatar had his themselves in the shadiest place that was nearby the camp. Both shaking. Both whimpering. Neither of them would budge.

Soon, the two boys reached to the top, having some bruises from the sharp rocks.

Infront of them was a giant forest. They heard animals making noises and the wind blowing through plants.

But they couldn't hear a terrifying scream from afar.

"Let's go." Zuko said and started walking into the forest. Sokka followed him, staying a few feet behind.

They walked for a few minutes, slicing some plants from time-to-time, that came in the way for them. So far, so good, they thought.

"Hakoda said that the Purple Poison Ivy was in the centre of the forest. This place is huge, so let's get moving." Zuko told his friend, who nodded.

"Yeah, the last thing we need is for a certain someone jump out and tear us to pieces-" the water teen said, until he was cut off by the stare of his companion. Now was no time for jokes.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The un-ending sounds of the critters, the wind that rustled the top of the trees. It was silent.

The whole forest seemed to go darker, somehow. The boys looked up in the sky and saw giant clouds hovering above them. They were grey, like storm clouds.

And then the rain came.

But the silence remained.

"Zuko, do you remember what the forest's name was?" Sokka whispered, getting nervous.

The Fire Prince gulped, getting a bit fearful, too.

"The Silent Forest." Zuko remembered.

"Why would there be a 'silent' forest near the Air Temple? Isn't all that stuff with airbending kinda... loud?" Sokka asked, pointing out the irony.

"It's called The Silent Forest, because you'll have to listen very carefully to survive. Even though it's quiet, there's still a lot going on. The forest is telling you to listen. It's testing you." The firebender said, holding a scroll infront of him. He was reading off from it.

"They say that here's were the Western Air Temple people were buried." He finished.

Their thoughts were stopped when a screech came from a nearby. They turned their heads, and saw some birds fly away from that area.

They took a few steps back. Sokka grabbed his sword tightly and pointed at the direction they heard that sound from. Zuko grabbed his swords aswell. Lighting the ancient forest would be a great mistake.

Some bushes and trees started to shake, and the boys got even more nervous, their hearts ready to jump out their chests.

But their fear was dropped when a man came out. He looked like he was from the fire nation.

"Help me! Please, I beg you! It's after me!" the man begged, crawling towards the two. He seemed to have lost his footing, hince the crawling.

Sokka and Zuko helped him get farther away from the plants, into a small clearing. Only then they noticed his injuries.

The man's legs were scratched and bit multible times. They were bleeding, and they swore they saw a bone somewhere.

"What's your name?" Zuko asked.

"I'm Leo." The man said, his voice cracking. It was from the crying.

While Sokka took care of Leo's injuries (which he learned from his sister), Zuko kept a look-out and tried to calm the injured.

"How'd you get here?" Zuko asked Leo, again. He was suspecting that he was working for the Fire Lord, to come and spy on the Avatar.

"I'm a traveller. Me and my wife and kids were stopping near a river next to this forest. I went to search for food, until..." the man stopped. He knew that he had answered the boy's question already.

"Go on, what happened?" the Fire Prince said.

"I-I... I was walking down a road, and then saw some blood on some of the bushes, and also a bit on the road. I was hoping that it was an injured rabbit-deer, because of the colour of the blood, which was quite dark... s-so I kept going, until the blood-marks didn't seem to go anywhere... I heard growling nearby, and then I started r-running..." Leo said, sobbing between each four words.

Sokka perked, listening to the man's story.

"...but the..._thing_ caught me from the legs. I fell, and tried to kick it off, but when I saw the face I stopped..." Leo said.

"Why?" Sokka asked, confused of why the man did so, in a death-situation.

"Because the one I was kicking was a... boy." Leo finished. The two teenagers gasped, both thinking the same thing.

_Aang._

"B-But he wasn't like a normal boy... o-or a human being! H-He had those... things attached to his body. He was... bleeding, and some of his body parts were like an insects..." the man said, shivering in fear.

"A-And his eyes... ohh, they were the worst. It seemed like he didn't even have them."

Leo started shaking more, and his tears didn't seem to reach an end very soon. The bites and scratches he got were too serious for both of them to handle. Even for a healer.

There was a silence. The boys were terrified, and so was Leo. But their fears were different.

Leo just saw the scariest thing in his life, and knows that he might not survive.

Zuko and Sokka just got the fact that their mutated friend is close by, and the damage he made with only some effort, scared them.

The rain had stopped, but the clouds remained.

"Run." The man said, as some noises were coming from the nearby plants, again.

"No, we're not going to leave you." Sokka said, seriously.

Leo coughed, "No, you must run. I'm not going to make it, you know it."

Sokka looked at his firebender friend, who stood silently and only nodded slowly.

"We must keep going, Sokka. We need to find those Purple Poison Ivy plants, otherwise something else will happen." Zuko reminded him.

The Water Tribe boy bit his lower teeth and shut his eyes. He hated leaving a man behind, but he knew that his friend was right. There was no use in saving Leo's life. If they could drag him back to camp, he'd probably be dead from the loss of blood, or they might attract dangerous critters, or worse- Aang.

"You're looking for those? They're just over the river, down this way." The man pointed. He also said that he knew that by seeing them earlier.

The boys bowed and thanked him. They started moving to where the man had pointed.

"Grrshrr..." a sound came from nearby.

"Let's go." Zuko told Sokka, who looked back at Leo nervously. The two made their way out of the clearing.

Suddenly, something jumped out from the bushes and tackled Leo, who started screaming.

Boys looked back, only to see the Avatar rip out the man's guts fearlessly with his sharp claws. He slashed the man's face and chest, while roaring horrifically. Blood splat everywhere the Avatar slashed, leaving a pool of organs spread out the clearing. He then inserted both of his scaly, greenish-gray arms into the man's lower-chest and tore out his heart, biting on it roughly. The veins broke, landing on either the man's not-exsistant face or dropping to the ground. The Avatar himself was covered in Leo's blood, while crunching on his heart. When he was finished, he feasted on the flesh, that still remained. The growls and low screeches never stopped.

The sight was beyond gory. No-one could have ever imagined that.

Sokka threw up, while Zuko tried his best not to. Their knees started to shake, their lips trembling and their hearts speeding. They both suddenly felt complete weakness. They felt as if they couldn't do anything. Like they were so vunreable.

Their eyes remained on Aang. How he ripped apart every bit of the poor man. How he sliced the organs with his clutches and claws. How his unrealisticly long and sharp teeth dug deep into the man's flesh and tore out every inch of it.

Then, Aang's black, pupil-less eyes darted on them, and their hearts stopped. They knew he was looking at them, but how?

Did he see colours? Did he see farther or more detailed than they could? Or did his other instincts tell him that they were nearby?

None of those question mattered, because they were in ultimate danger of being ripped apart like the innocent Leo.

Aang's head rose, indicating that he wasn't sure what he was looking at. He stopped on giving attention to his kill, and started moving closer to the two half-hidden teenagers.

His dead eyes stayed on theirs. They felt hypnotized, as their dangerous friend got closer and closer.

"Sokka, run!" Zuko yelled, as he was the first one to snap back to reality. He grabbed from his arm and started running the opposite direction of the 'predator'. Sokka flipped back aswell, running next to Zuko. They slashed plants away from their sight by swinging their swords around.

They heard screeches coming from behind. They got louder and louder, so the two boys kept running faster, fear bigger than ever.

They came to another clearing, breathing loudly and sprinting for their dear lives. They had some cuts and bruises, from the sharp plants or trees they bumped into while running.

"Aarhh!" Sokka yelled, as he got pounced by Aang.

Zuko quickly reacted and pushed Aang off Sokka. He stumbled and balanced on all fours, hissing and swinging his arms, as a threat. Sokka quickly got up and just grabbed his sword, before it was between the jaws of Aang. His mouth-clutches were scratching the melt meteor that Sokka's sword was made of and his teeth held onto it. His arms kept waving, trying to grab hold onto something.

Sokka yelled in fear, never thinking that Aang would threaten him like that. If his sword hadn't been in the way, his face would've been between Aang's jaws. Some blood stuck on the sword, not sure if it was Aang's or the killed man's.

Aang strongly jumped on Sokka, trying his best to swing the sword that was the only thing between him and Sokka's head away. Aang scratched his arms and face, leaving some cuts.

The water boy couldn't shake him off, until he heard fire starting from infront of him, behind Aang.

It was Zuko. He bended some fire onto Aang's scaly back. It had some sharp spikes sticking out of it, going across his spine, like an extension.

The fire burned Aang's skin, and he immediately let go of the sword. Instead he galloped a few feet away, whimpering and spinning, trying to get rid of the pain. He was like a mad animal.

Even though it wasn't necessary at all, Zuko bended some more fire towards Aang, making him run away as fast as he could, crying loudly.

They both saw their burnt friend scramble away, leaving another trail of blood behind him, which made the boys look at themselves, bleedy, mossy, dirty and bruised.

Zuko helped Sokka up and patted his back for support.

"Are you okay?" He asked.  
>"Y-Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Said Sokka, coughing a bit.<p>

A few silent minutes went by. The boys were thinking about the horrific experience they had, from seeing Leo in pain to his unimaginable death, to the predator running away like a scared pup.

"We should get going. We're still heading towards the point Leo told us to go." Zuko said. Sokka nodded.

They walked for fifteen minutes, shaking a bit. They were still scared. Atleast now they knew that they wouldn't be seeing their friend any time soon.

"I can hear water." Sokka said quietly.

"It's the river, we must be close. Let's clean up, before we attract any more attention." The firebender said. You could hear the quiver in his voice.

He felt horrible for attacking Aang, after promising the death-glare-bender not to. How is she going to react when they he tells her that he hurt Aang, so much that he ran away yelling? Maybe she'd understand if it was for self-defence. Maybe.

The boys spent the next half an hour cleaning themselves up a little. But the bruises and some bleeding cuts remained. They just had to deal with that before they get healed.

Zuko saw that Sokka was in deep thought. He was looking at the flowing river sadly. He was about to question, before Sokka started.

"It's just so... scary. To see Aang like that. To see him be capable of doing all those things. I mean, yes, he's the Avatar and all, and he has the most power anyone ever could, but... That was different. I would've never thought he'd kill anyone. Especially like what he did to that man... I-I..."

"I know," Zuko sighed, "I've never been so scared in my life."

"Zuko, it's different for you," Sokka sighed even louder than him, "You never saw how innocent and joyful that kid was just a few months ago. Like any normal kid. But now he's... completely different. I could have never, I swear, _never_ imagined that he'd be like that. He's my friend, like a brother I never had. The goofy, kind of stupid brother. And now, he's just horrifying."

They didn't have time to talk to eachother, they knew, but something had to come out. It was better for them to deal with all of this if they talked to eachother.

Another silent minute passed, until they both got out of the river and went on, looking for the Purple Poison Ivy plants.

"Ugh, what is that smell?" Sokka covered his nose.

"Yeah, I can feel it too. We must be close." Zuko sniffed in and kept walking, disgusted Sokka behind him.

They slashed through some large leaves, until they saw purple plants, sprouting out and spreading yellow dots everywhere in the air.

"We're here. Get the back, I'll cut them." Zuko said, covering his nose with his shirt. Sokka did the same and nodded, getting out his bag.

They went closer to the plants, making sure that they wouldn't smell the toxic air.

Zuko carefully cut the leaves of the Purple Poison Ivy and placed them in the bag, which Sokka held open for him. It took them a few minutes to do so, because the leaves were thick and if you cut them too fast, they would spit venom at you, from the pressure.

When the amount was enough, or more like plenty, they got up and slowly walked away from the plants. Sokka closed his bag and Zuko put his swords back.

Now, it seemed to go a lot faster. They wanted to hurry and get back to camp, before they could be in danger again. Also, to save the Avatar and the waterbender's heart.

Half an hour passed, until the two finally made it out of the forest. Only then they took their shirts off of their noses, because now the scent has vanished from their bodies. The wet bushes and trees helped them to get rid of the toxic smell.

"Sokka! Zuko!" Hakoda shouted as he saw the two boys coming back from their trip. Others soon ran to them, and embraced them.

"Woah, what happened? You look like you went into a battle with the tiger-rhino." Suki said, worry painted all over her face. She was holding Sokka, as he seemed to be a little dizzy.

"It was far worse." Zuko said, as he coughed. The boys realized that they were a bit ill now.

Everyone looked up to them with questioning glances.

"We met Aang." He finished. They all gasped.

Suddenly, Sokka started to cry, "We saw a man crawling out of a bush. His legs were very injured and he said that he was a traveller with his family, who had went in search of food. We tried to help him, until..." he coughed, "until Aang showed up."

Katara's eyes widened, as she got closer to her brother.

Sokka gulped, crying a bit more, "He tackled the man, who he'd injure before... It was horrible! He literally tore out his insides! Th-They were everywhere! Oh and all the blood!" he shouted, only crying more.

Now everyone was scared to their top.

Katara, the one who clung closest to Aang, didn't know what to feel. Ofcourse she was scared and disgusted, but her worry for Aang's own condition rose as well. She knew about him more than anyone, and hearing him doing things like that made her heart break.

" We saw him eat his heart and-and...ugh!" Sokka couldn't speak. His tears were drowning his words.

Everybody looked frightened. Their imagination didn't reach that far to ever think of Aang as a ruthless killing machine.

"We ran away," Zuko kept going for Sokka, "but he caught up to us and attacked Sokka. And I..." he stopped, looking at the waterbender, who was begging to know what happened next.

"I firebended at him, sending him running back in the woods." Zuko quickly finished, looking away from the water girl.

"You _what_?" Katara whispered angrily. She knew that this was a critical situation, but hurting Aang by firebending went off her list. She gritted her teeth and almost punched Zuko in the face, but her father stopped her.

"Katara." He said quietly, glaring at her. She squeezed her eyes shut and took her arm back from her father's grasp, aggressively. Zuko knew from her stare that he's not going to escape with this one.

"Atleast you got the plants, which is great." Hakoda complimented them, patting their shoulders. They were one step closer to saving the Avatar.

"We'll rest for the night. It must have been very rough day for you two," Hakoda said, very seriously, "Katara, you can look over their injuries." She nodded.

The rain in the forest started again. It's every drop being cold and shift.

Aang lied on the ground, shaking and growling. He was in a large puddle made from the rain-drops. His back was burnt and some of the spikes had detached. He was in terrible pain.

His shallow eyes shut, as he felt the energy leaving his body. His system was shutting down.

It was commanded by the alien next to his heart. It knew that the imprisoner was in a bad shape.

Suddenly, long tentacles grew out of the Avatar's back, raging for metres. They were incredibly fast, heading towards the top of the trees. Squacks and screacks were coming from there, as the tentacles squeezed something. A minute passed, and the tentacles started to pull back into Aang's body, each holding either a bird or a squirrel. Aang's mouth enlargened and ate all the critters with only one swallow, giving him all he needed to regain his health.

The tentacles absorbed back into Aang's back, as if they never were there.

The rest of the night filled with load groans and yells from the actual Aang, not the alien.

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><p>Woah! That was as long as I could do, for today! Hope it quenched some of the thirst for an actual chapter!<p>

Sorry, no Kataang in this chapter. I tried to keep the story on Sokka and Zuko's point of view. BUT. Katara and Hakoda's chapter will come soon! c;

Again, please-please review! I need to know what you think! Am I better at making funny or scary stories? ^.^

p.s my arm's shaking. It's kinda freaky. o.o

~Wind And Tides


	6. Chapter 6: Ice Chilly Peppers

Hi, again! Sorry for the long delay, but here's another chapter! The story's coming to an end, very soon. Last one's after my holidays start!

Hope you enjoy this one. I got some ideas from watcing Jurassic Park, haha.

So yeah, be warned about the gore, yadda-yadda!

Response to BelieveInLov3, RandomPow3r and FMA and ATLA: Mwuahahaaa! Thanks for reviewing!

Please review!

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><p><strong>-I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender<strong>

"Ugh, Katara!" Sokka whimpered as his sister wrapped a bandage over his arm.

"I'm sorry, Sokka, but dad said that you shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon." Katara said blandly.

"I know that! You're squeezing my arm, that's why I yelled!" he shouted, feeling rather uncomfortable.

She knew that she was putting too much pressure on her brother's arm, and the reason was because she was deep in thought.

After the two boys returned, they had mayor injuries and both had a fever. Katara had been taking care of them for the last few days. Hakoda's plan was disturbed, because he wasn't expecting the guys turning out that ill and injured. So, before doing anything, they should rest longer and made sure that they're all capable of escaping in case of a trouble.

Katara finished wrapping the bandage and cleaned up the older ones.

She got up and left, leaving the two sick boys in their sleeping bags. Zuko had been sleeping two days straight, sometimes waking up for 5 minutes to eat. He had a stronger fever than Sokka.

"Hey, Zuko," Sokka poked him. No response.

"Zuko. Zuko. Zuko!" he punched him.

"Heh, what?" the drouzy firbender snorted.

"Katara's acting weird, don't you think?" Sokka asked.

Zuko shrugged, "Eum, I haven't been awake enough to know-..." and fell asleep.

The water-tribe teen scoffed, but then soon falling asleep as well, drooling.

"Okay, so, should we get going? I mean, it's the best before dark." The Kyoshi Warrior said to Hakoda.

"Yeah, let's get this over with already." Toph added.

Katara walked past them and placed some of the towels on a pile of stuff. She overheard their conversation while setting up some things.

"Hm, you two are both right. You should start before the dark, it's for the best, and it'd be better if we'd get this done fast. If we waste too much time, it will be too late to save the Avatar's life. If we're lucky, we might still recodnise him as an actual human being, but if not, we'll have to see faith take over..." Hakoda said, but only realized it later when he head his daughter gasp.

"W-What?" Katara quivered, her hands shaking.

"Katara, I'm sorry for not telling you earlier but," Hakoda said, sighing deeply.

"If we won't get all the materials for the right time, it might be too late to save him. The alien is conquering his body, literally, taking over everything that-..." he was cut off with Katara gasping even louder. She couldn't hold in the tears any more. This was horrible.

"I'm sorry, Katara." He apologized again, hugging his daughter.

"There's no point in saying sorry... I just want him back." She whispered.

"I just want him back." She repeated.

Toph and Suki turned their gazes upon Hakoda, who was in thought.

If he's not doing this for the sake of the world, he's doing it for his daughter.

.

"Allright girls, are you absolutely sure that you can handle it?" Hakoda asked the two warriors.

The two nodded assuringly.

The Chief scratched his neck, slightly nervous.

"Just, be careful. I don't want you to end up like Sokka and Zuko." He said.

They nodded again, and were off to explore the temple.

.

"Woah, it's only past mid-day, and it's getting so dark. We better hurry." Suki said, looking at the sky past the pillars.

"Don't worry, if anything's nearby, I can tell with my feet." Toph assured her companion, smiling.

"I'm not so sure if everything here is made of pure rock. There's a very good chance that there are wooden floors." Suki pointed out, making Toph think a little.

They kept walking for a few minutes, and the sun was getting lower and lower.

"Hey, Suki," Toph started. She sounded sad all of a sudden.

"Do you think Aang will be okay?" she asked.

Suki got worried, now that she thought about it. She was so confident at first, that she didn't think about actually seeing the thing Aang had become again, let alone think that he would stay that way.

"I...I sure hope so." The Kyoshi Warrior told her blind friend.

"But... What if he shows up now? We can't possibly hurt him, can we?" Toph asked again.

That made Suki go even deeper thought. If they would hurt Aang, with earthbending, knives that might be in the kitchens or with anything, really, then it might be crucial for his chances of staying alive.

They were running out of time.

"We can't stay here and think about things right now, Toph. We should find the Ice Chilly Peppers and make a break for it. The faster the better, right?" Suki tried to explain.

Toph didn't argue back, so they kept going.

They weren't aware of the one who was watching them from not very far.

.

The two girls made it to the hallway of kitchens. It had about a dozen doors that lead to a certain part of kitchens.

"Allright, Ice Chilly Peppers should be somewhere in the vegetable section, or in the sauces section. So we should check them both." Suki said, knowing her way around already.

The only problem that they had was that the vegetation in the Air Temple had grown massively. It had overpopulated and grown all over the place.

As for Toph's disadvantage, there was a a lot of wood and plants that surrounded the area, making her vision very, very unstable. She would have to focus deeply to see anything, and if fear should creep in her mind, there will be a problem.

They entered the vegetable room. The room was actually a hall, since it was huge. Large vegetation had grown all over the place, covering the broken pieces of tables, cupboards and shelves. The windows were open, a small wind blowing.

"Okay," Suki started, "let's take a look around."

They started walking over and around huge piles of wood and plants that were covering the area. Only small parts of it still had rock covering it, which made Toph anxious.

The girls started to look in the shelves that weren't broken yet. All of them contained broken bottles or bags filled with seeds, rotten plants or something else.

"Found 'em, yet? This place is giving me the creeps." Toph said across the room.

"Nothing." Suki answered.

A strange voice came from nearby. It made the two gasp and freeze still. The voice stopped.

"W-We better hurry. Check under the tables. Ice Chilly Peppers love shadows, as far as I know." Suki said, starting to scatter through the shelves faster.

Toph crouched down, trying to concentrate on the peppers she was supposed to find. Her vision was blurry; she only felt thick liquid under the tables, that were not from plants, definetly.

"Ahh!" Suki gasped. Toph turned to her.

"Found them. Give me your bag." She said, starting to fill hers up with light-blue colored peppers.

Toph gave Suki hers, as she hurriedly filled the bags.

Suddenly, Toph frowned and turned.

"Something else is in this room." She said.

"Where?" her companion looked around.

"On the ceiling." She said, pointing at it.

Large leaves were covering the ceiling, some of them moving strangely. It could've been the wind.

Silence.

"Gryaaah!" a roar came, and the owner of it jumped out of the leaves, landing right in front of the girls.

The two's hearts were still.

It was Aang.

His condition was much worse. His light skin was shading into green, with scales starting to come out of it, tearing it apart. His hands had grown an extra pair of clutches, with the older ones seemingly sharper. His face was starting to turn into an insect's, with his teeth now looking like a dozen sharp clutches put together.

All in all, he looked even more scary than they remembered.

Aang jumped at them.

They dodged him, screaming. He hit the shelves, breaking them.

"Behind the piles, hide!" Suki yelled. Toph did as she was told, while Suki herself went behind another pillar.

Grumbling noises were heard. Aang was getting back up, thrashing through the wooden material he just crashed into. His instincts said that the wood protected his prey.

The girls stayed quiet, as the grumbling and thrashing stopped.

They heard sharp claws move across the rock floors, making slow and cautious steps.

The piles where they were hiding weren't very far from echother; only a small gap separated them.

Aang's rugged breathing became louder. He was getting closer.

They heard how the footsteps got closer, mimicking the fast heartbeats of the nervous girls.

He made noises, purred, growled, sneezed and moaned quietly.

Then, it was quiet.

Nothing but the sharp thuds of heart beatings were heard.

Not even the wind.

The two looked at eachother, hoping that somehow, he'll go away without noticing them. But they knew that he was aware of them hiding.

Suddenly, loud scratching came from farther away. Aang roared furiously, tearing something apart.

He had gone to the wrong pile, luckily.

Another moment of silence.

And again, loud scratches and roaring. This time, it was closer to them.

Aang started walking again; frequent sounds of claws making contact with rock were heard across the room.

Suki then let out a breath that she was holding. She regret doing that instantly, since the footsteps stopped.

It was quiet for a very long time.

The two were getting thoughts that he left, somehow.

Suki slowly and steadily started to peek behind the pile she was hiding.

"Ssshhhgryaaaaaaah!" a screech came. Aang jumped on Suki's pillar, making both scream in terror.

"Watch out!" Toph yelled, as she bended a rock that hit Aang in the head. He was about to attack her.

Suki yelled, starting to run away, and so did Toph.

"Aaahhh!" the young earthbender shouted, as she fell.

Aang was biting on her ankle, pulling her back slowly.

Suki looked back and hit him with her bag, hard. He let go, only to get hit even more times with it.

Toph crawled behind the Kyoshi Warrior, trying to get up.

Aang got sick of getting beaten, so he grabbed the bag with his teeth, making it tear apart. The Ice Chilly Peppers flew onto Aang's face, making him let go and screech.

"Let's go!" Suki said, helping Toph get up, while starting to run out of the room and into the corridor.

Toph cried in pain, as she tried running. Suki looked back and saw that she was leaving a trail of blood behind.

"Quick, hold onto me!" she said, picking her friend up, while she cried again.

They were half way there, until they heard a loud blow.

A screech, and they were panicking again.

He was gaining up fast, as his noises got louder.

Toph knew that she was slowing Suki down dramaticly.

Aang got really close, and was about to pounce.

"I'm sorry, Aang." Toph said quietly.

She quickly bended a large rock behind Suki, sending Aang flying across the corridor, hitting the very end of it. He didn't seem to move.

Suki had to rest. She was literally running out of breath.

She stopped, taking deep breaths. She grabbed Toph's bag, the one that made it.

They looked back and saw Aang far away, lying there.

Toph thought that she ended him.

But just then, large, black tentacles sprouted out of his back, moving everywhere and growing more than five times the size of Aang.

Their hearts stopped.

They thought of nothing.

_There's nothing. Nothing beautiful in this world. Only torture, pain and death. And if you don't wish those things to happen to you..._

They heard a voice in their heads say that.

Aang's black eyes flashed open.

_...you better run._

That was Aang's voice.

.

"Hakoda! Hakoda!" Suki yelled, as she reached the campsite.

The Chief turned to see them, and ran to them.

"Suki, Toph, you're back!" he greeted them, noticing that one was being held by the other.

Katara ran to them, aswell. She was a bit behind Hakoda, though.

"Toph's injured." Suki said, tears flowing down her eyes. She put her down. She was conscious, but also crying.

Katara got sat down and started looking for the 'injury' Suki was talking about.

When she saw it.

"W-what happened?" she asked.

"Aang bit her." Suki said, her voice shaking.

Katara gaped at her, not believing it. The bite was like a large insect's. More like a monster's.

She started healing her friend right away. She winced in pain.

"We got the peppers..." Toph said, handling the bag to Hakoda.

"You're going to be all right." He said, holding onto her hand.

"I know." She said. But then started to cry again.

"It's just that..." she started, looking at her healer, who looked back at her.

"He's different now." She said.

"I'm so scared..." the powerful earthbender admitted, letting tears run down her cheeks.

They all shared a moment of silence, looking at eachother with sadness and fear.

.

"Dad," Katara said, as she and her father were the only ones up.

"Yes, honey?" he asked.

"Please...Tell me the truth." She said.

Hakoda smiled at her sadly.

"Will Aang be okay?" she asked, hurt in her voice.

Hakoda took a deep breath. He looked in his daughter's eyes. There was so much sadness, so much fright and... love.

"I don't know." He answered.

"But we've done so much, we can't fail. Tomorrow will tell." He assured.

Katara looked down sadly.

"He...He means so much to me. I can't see him like that. I wish that everything would be okay. That he'd come back to me..." she said, her voice fading.

"I... I need him, dad... I... I lo-..." she didn't want to finish. Her cheeks were slightly pink, and her mouth had turned the other way around.

"I know, Katara." The Chief said, smiling. He already got the message.

The two soon fell asleep.

.

Aang was tearing flesh. He was gobbling on the fresh meat, slurping on the blood. He tore out un-needed bones and digged in further. Even though he had finished, most of the bodies' parts were still connected. He burped like an animal, cleaned his claws and jumped on the ceiling, falling asleep.

If Suki and Toph had gone to the sauces room first, they would've found the rest of Leo's family.

* * *

><p>Phew! That's it for now. Last chapter coming up soon!<p>

Like it, dislike it, love it, hate it, whatever? Review!

(off-topic) DEMACIA! (a cookie for anyone who knows the reference. xD)

~Wind And Tides


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